David Walsh Blog

• By David WalshAugust 9, 2022

  Specify Node Versions with .nvmrc

  I've heavily promoted nvm, a Node.js version manager, over the years. Having a tool to manage multiple versions of a language interpreter has been so useful, especially due to the complexity of Node.js package management.One tip I like to give new developers is adding a...

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• By David WalshAugust 8, 2022

  How to Inject a Global with Web Extensions in Manifest V3

  For those of you not familiar with the world of web extension development, a storm is brewing with Chrome. Google will stop support for manifest version 2, which is what the vast majority of web extensions use. Manifest version 3 sees many changes but the largest...

• By David WalshAugust 2, 2022

  How Plugins Enhance The WYSIWYG Editing Experience

  Image by JK_Studio from PixabayWYSIWYG editors are one of the core components of any content management system (CMS). A well-coded, feature-filled WYSIWYG HTML editor can distinguish between a CMS users love and one they can't stand. While all WYSIWYG editors have a set of...

• By David WalshJuly 26, 2022

  JavaScript Event.defaultPrevented

  Whether you started with the old on_____ property or addEventListener, you know that events drive user experiences in modern JavaScript. If you've worked with events, you know that preventDefault() and stopPropagation() are frequently used to handle events. One thing you probably didn't know: there's a defaultPrevented...

• By David WalshJuly 18, 2022

  7 Ways to Optimize Performance for Your WordPress Site

  The vast majority of blogs, news websites, and information websites run on WordPress. While the WordPress developer team and community do their best to ensure wordPress is performant, there are a number of practices you can implement to keep your site blazing fast. Let's...

• By David WalshJuly 10, 2022

  How to Get Extension Manifest Information

  Working on a web extension can be kinda wild -- on one side you're essentially just coding a website, on the other side you're limited to what the browser says you can do in the extension execution environment. One change in that environment is coming...

• By David WalshJune 23, 2022

  How to Reverse an Animated GIF

  Modifying visual media via code has always been a fascination of mine. Probably because I'm not a designer and I tend to stick to what I'm good at. One visual effect I love is seeing video reversed -- it provides a sometimes hilarious perspective...

• By David WalshMay 22, 2022

  CSS :optional

  A decade ago HTML and CSS added the ability to, at least signal, validation of form fields. The required attribute helped inform users which fields were required, while pattern allowed developers to provide a regular expression to match against an <input>'s value. Targeting required fields...

• By David WalshMay 9, 2022

  Get a Random Array Item with JavaScript

  JavaScript Arrays are probably my favorite primitive in JavaScript. You can do all sorts of awesome things with arrays: get unique values, clone them, empty them, etc. What about getting a random value from an array?To get a random item from...

• By David WalshApril 26, 2022

  Legacy String Methods for Generating HTML

  I'm always really excited to see new methods on JavaScript primitives. These additions are acknowledgement that the language needs to evolve and that we're doing exciting new things. That being said, I somehow just discovered some legacy String methods that you probably shouldn't use...